Phones for very limited use - quick review

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NateInNYC

#1
#1
I was looking for a prepaid phone and my biggest priority was on long service life (# days until the minutes expire) and the actual number of minutes was a lower priority, because I plan to use the phone on a very limited basis.

So for anyone in the same boat, here's what I found:

From browsing a store, amongst Tracfone, Net10, Verizon, TMobile Virgin, and AT&T, the best deals appear to be Tracfone and TMobile, both of which offer 90 day service periods. The others were either 30 days or 60 days.

Tracfone:
They had phones at the $10, $15, $20 and higher price points. All of these phones come with double minutes (indicated on package). Do not buy a Tracfone without double minutes for life, as the double minutes for life cards are a ripoff.
The cheapest refill card is $20 for 60 min/90 days. Since the phone is double minutes, that means your $20 refill gets you 120 min/90 days.

TMobile:
The least expensive phone I saw was $20. The cheapest refill card was $10 for 30 min/90 days.

So for the extreme minimalist user, a $20 Tmobile phone and 4 refill cards at $40 gets you 120 min/1yr for a total of $60. But if you go over 30 min in 90 days even by a little bit, you'll have to fork over another $10, as the $10 refill cards are the minimum denomination.

A $10 Tracfone with DMFL and 4 refill cards at $20 gets you 480 min/1 yr for $90. If you go for the slightly better $20 phone, the total for 1yr is $10 more, or $100.

You can find even better deals online, but that defeats the purpose.

Hope this helps someone looking for a minimal use prepaid.
 
M

manitoba

#4
#4
In Canada at least we have Speak Out by 7-11. Don’t know if they are available in the US but I did see one reference on a blog to them being available, have never checked it out.

You can register the SIM card on line using whatever name address and email you want. You can buy recharge cards at any 7-11 for cash. If you but an initial $50 or $100 card you can often get a new phone for $20 or so and sometimes even get a $125 worth of credit on a $100 voucher. (promotions change often)

Depending on how much you use it could cost a fair bit though. Canadian rates are 0.40 a minute local plus 0.35 long distance unless you buy a package. Packages with 400 minutes a month are $40 and that includes all Canadian calls so local, long distance, incoming and outgoing calls are all treated the same. Less airtime packages are also available and if memory serves me the shortest is $20 for 100 minutes.

Text and internet packages are also available. Net package is $10 a month for all you can use with no upper transfer limit. Unlimited text is $15.

Money on the card is good for a year. Topping up even with only $10 adds another year to the money currently on the phone.

I use them for both my hobby phone and my regular number. They are registered on different accounts under different names and addresses. I paid cash for my hobby phone and only pay cash for my hobby phone top ups.
 
theshooter

theshooter

#5
#5
After doing some research online, I took an old LG phone that I had with Verizon, and took it to Page Plus. For $18 I had it activated with a new # and a $25 100min card. Paid cash with no questions asked. It would have been better if the minutes had a longer life though.
 
pilotman

pilotman

#6
#6
theshooter said:
After doing some research online, I took an old LG phone that I had with Verizon, and took it to Page Plus. For $18 I had it activated with a new # and a $25 100min card. Paid cash with no questions asked. It would have been better if the minutes had a longer life though.
Click to expand...
Most of the Page Plus locations I can bring up are for "Replenishment Only". do you mind sharing what location you used? Thanks!
 
ModernDayCowboy

ModernDayCowboy

#7
#7
Ive been using a POS verizon prepaid I picked up from Walmart for $15 and it came with $10 of call credit. Rate per minute is a few pennies more then others but it was locally available and very cheap.
 
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T

twotimesone

#8
#8
You can get a free byod phone service from RingPlus if you are in NYC. Singup is at 3/10. I am currently using this plan as my monger phone.

http://www.prepaidphonenews.com/2014/02/ringplus-announces-new-promotions.html

300 minutes, 500 texts, and 10mb of data but they might charge tax soon. They specifically say that you have to use a sprint phone but you can get away with using cheap Virgin Mobile flip phones. Like the Kyocera Kona, Samsung Entro, and Kyocera Coast. Nice thing is that is if you lose your phone or if you want to switch your phone #, you can do it for $1.
 
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Portknoxx69

#9
#9
My phone is a POS but gets the job done. Pay 40 a month for unlimited use pay cash at a local store and no questions asked. Phone was 45 and is a flip hard to text but hey whatever works right
 
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